{"data": {"id": 127561, "accession_number": "1950.239", "share_license_status": "CC0", "tombstone": "The Holy Family (Christ in the Lap of Truth), c. 1805. William Blake (British, 1757\u20131827). Black, gray, and brown ink applied with pen and point of brush; gray, pink, yellow, and green wash; sheet: 37.9 x 32.5 cm (14 15/16 x 12 13/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1950.239", "current_location": null, "title": "The Holy Family (Christ in the Lap of Truth)", "creation_date": "c. 1805", "creation_date_earliest": 1800, "creation_date_latest": 1810, "artists_tags": ["male"], "culture": ["England, London"], "technique": "black, gray, and brown ink applied with pen and point of brush; gray, pink, yellow, and green wash", "support_materials": [], "department": "Drawings", "collection": "DR - British", "type": "Drawing", "measurements": "Sheet: 37.9 x 32.5 cm (14 15/16 x 12 13/16 in.)", "dimensions": {"sheet": {"height": 0.379, "height_inch": 14, "height_inch_fraction": 0.9375, "width": 0.325, "width_inch": 12, "width_inch_fraction": 0.8125}}, "state_of_the_work": null, "edition_of_the_work": null, "copyright": null, "inscriptions": [{"inscription": "signed, lower right, in black ink: [artist's monogram:8 inv / wb]", "inscription_translation": null, "inscription_remark": null, "sortorder": null}, {"inscription": "verso, upper center, in graphite: G [collector's mark? (not in Lugt)]", "inscription_translation": null, "inscription_remark": null, "sortorder": null}, {"inscription": "across bottom, in graphite: no. 9 [S?]ingle", "inscription_translation": null, "inscription_remark": null, "sortorder": null}, {"inscription": "across bottom, in graphite: The Holy Family / Jesus-Mary-Joseph-Elizabeth + St. John", "inscription_translation": null, "inscription_remark": null, "sortorder": null}, {"inscription": "lower center, in graphite: 50/ [7?]", "inscription_translation": null, "inscription_remark": null, "sortorder": null}], "exhibitions": {"current": [{"id": 361393, "title": "77th Annual Exhibition of Water-Colour Drawings", "description": "<i>77th Annual Exhibition of Water-Colour Drawings</i>. Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London (organizer).", "opening_date": "1950-01-01T05:00:00"}, {"id": 361394, "title": "The Art of William Blake", "description": "<i>The Art of William Blake</i>. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (October 19-December 1, 1957).", "opening_date": "1957-10-19T04:00:00"}, {"id": 302020, "title": "Aspects of Drawing", "description": "<i>Aspects of Drawing</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 10-April 2, 1961).", "opening_date": "1961-01-10T05:00:00"}, {"id": 304645, "title": "Drawings", "description": "<i>Drawings</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963).", "opening_date": "1963-01-11T05:00:00"}, {"id": 304714, "title": "European Watercolors Through the 18th Century", "description": "<i>European Watercolors Through the 18th Century</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 14-March 22, 1964).", "opening_date": "1964-01-14T05:00:00"}, {"id": 304705, "title": "Neo-classicism: Style and Motif", "description": "<i>Neo-classicism: Style and Motif</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 23-October 31, 1964).", "opening_date": "1964-09-23T04:00:00"}, {"id": 310251, "title": "Rococo, Revolution, Restoration", "description": "<i>Rococo, Revolution, Restoration</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-September 24, 1989).", "opening_date": "1989-07-11T04:00:00"}, {"id": 192019, "title": "Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art", "description": "<i>Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).", "opening_date": "2000-08-27T00:00:00"}, {"id": 200485, "title": "British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art ", "description": "<i>British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art </i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-May 26, 2013).", "opening_date": "2013-02-10T00:00:00"}], "legacy": [{"description": "<em>Exhibition of the Works of William Blake. </em>Burlington Fine Arts Club, London (1876).", "opening_date": null}, {"description": "<em>Exhibition of Works by William Blake. </em>Carfax and Co. Ltd., London (June 14 - July 31, 1906).", "opening_date": "1906-06-14T00:00:00"}, {"description": "<em>The Century of Art Exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters, and Gravers. </em>Grafton Galleries, London (June - July, 1911).", "opening_date": "1911-06-01T00:00:00"}, {"description": "<em>William Blake (1757 \u2013 1827). </em>Tate Gallery, London (1947).", "opening_date": "1947-01-01T00:00:00"}]}, "provenance": [{"description": "Thomas Butts [1757-1845], London", "citations": [], "footnotes": null, "date": "after 1805-by 1845", "sortorder": 1}, {"description": "Thomas Butts Jr.", "citations": [], "footnotes": null, "date": "probably after 1845-by 1853", "sortorder": 2}, {"description": "(his sale, Property of Thomas Butts, Esq., Messrs. Foster and Son, London, June 29, 1853, no. 127, sold to Henry George Bohn)", "citations": [], "footnotes": ["<div><!--block-->as <em>Holy Family</em>.</div>"], "date": "1853", "sortorder": 3}, {"description": "Henry George Bohn [1796-1884], London", "citations": [], "footnotes": null, "date": "1853-?", "sortorder": 4}, {"description": "Alexander Anderdon Weston [1822-1901; Lugt 65], by descent to his widow", "citations": [], "footnotes": null, "date": "?-1901", "sortorder": 5}, {"description": "Mrs. Alexander Anderdon Weston", "citations": [], "footnotes": null, "date": "1901-1904", "sortorder": 6}, {"description": "(her anonymous sale, Christie's, London, June 28, 1904, no. 5, sold to E. Parsons)", "citations": [], "footnotes": null, "date": "1904", "sortorder": 7}, {"description": "E. Parsons, sold to W. Graham Robertson", "citations": [], "footnotes": null, "date": "1904", "sortorder": 8}, {"description": "W. Graham Robertson [1866-1948], London", "citations": [], "footnotes": null, "date": "1904-1949", "sortorder": 9}, {"description": "(his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd., London, July 22, 1949, no. 24, probably sold to Thomas Agnew and Sons, London)", "citations": [], "footnotes": null, "date": "1949", "sortorder": 10}, {"description": "(Thomas Agnew and Sons, London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)", "citations": [], "footnotes": null, "date": "1949-1950", "sortorder": 11}, {"description": "Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH", "citations": [], "footnotes": null, "date": "1950-", "sortorder": 12}], "find_spot": null, "related_works": [], "former_accession_numbers": [], "did_you_know": "This drawing was first owned by Thomas Butts, an English civil servant who became William Blake's most important patron and supporter for about two decades.", "early_education_description": null, "artlens_description": null, "description": "Although he rejected institutionalized religion, Blake was intensely spiritual, and much of his art was inspired by a highly personal reading of the Bible or by literature based upon it, such as John Milton\u2019s <em>Paradise Lost </em>(1667). The Virgin Mary is centered in this highly stylized composition. Upon her lap she clasps the infant Christ whose outstretched arms foreshadow the Crucifixion. The Mother and Child are flanked by Saint Joseph on the left, and Saint Anne (the Virgin\u2019s mother), on the right. Below, Saint John the Baptist, who foretold Christ\u2019s death and resurrection, plays with a lamb.", "external_resources": {"wikidata": ["https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79907658"], "internet_archive": ["https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1950.239-the-holy-family-chri"]}, "citations": [{"citation": "Gilchrist, Alexander and William Michael Rossetti. <em>Life of William Blake: \"Pictor Ignotus,\" with Selections from His Poems and Other Writings</em>. London: R. Clay, Son, and Taylor, 1863.", "page_number": "Mentioned: vol. 2, p. 230, no. 182", "url": null}, {"citation": "<em>Exhibition of the Works of William Blake</em>. Exh. Cat. London: Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1876.", "page_number": "Mentioned: no. 144", "url": null}, {"citation": "Gilchrist, Alexander and William Michael Rossetti. <em>Life of William Blake with Seleions from His Poems and Other Writings</em>. London: Macmillan, 1880.", "page_number": "Mentioned: vol. 2, p. 243, no. 207 or 209", "url": null}, {"citation": "Richter, Helene. <em>William Blake</em>. Strassburg: J.H. Ed. Heitz, 1906.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 173; Reproduced: pl. V", "url": null}, {"citation": "<em>Exhibition of Works by William Blake</em>. Exh. Cat. London: Carfax and Co., Ltd., 1906.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 19, no. 69", "url": null}, {"citation": "de Selincourt, Basil. <em>William Blake</em>. London: Duckworth, 1909.", "page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 200-202; Reproduced: between pp. 200 and 201", "url": "https://archive.org/details/williamblake007928mbp/"}, {"citation": "<em>The Century of Art Exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters, and Gravers</em>. Exh. Cat. London: Grafton Galleries, 1911.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 35, no. 125", "url": null}, {"citation": "Russell, Archibald. \"The Graham Robertson Collection.\" <em>Burlington Magazine</em> 37, no. 208 (July 1920): 27-29, 32-35, 39.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 34", "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/861049"}, {"citation": "Russell, Archibald. <em>William Blake (1757-1827)</em>. Exh. Cat. London: Tate Gallery, 1947.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 37, no. 76", "url": null}, {"citation": "<em>77th Annual Exhibition of Water-Colour Drawings</em>. Exh. Cat. London: Thomas Agnew &amp; Sons, Ltd., 1950.", "page_number": "Mentioned: no. 74", "url": null}, {"citation": "Preston, Kerrison. <em>The Blake Collection of W. Graham Robertson</em>. London: Faber and Faber, 1952.", "page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 144-45", "url": null}, {"citation": "Keynes, Sir Geoffrey. <em>William Blake's Illustrations to the Bible. </em>London: Trianon, 1957.", "page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 30-31, no. 104; Reproduced: pl. 104", "url": null}, {"citation": "<em>The Art of William Blake</em>. Exh. Cat. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1957.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 19, no. 26", "url": null}, {"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.", "page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 608", "url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n113"}, {"citation": "Hawley, Henry. <em>Neo-Classicism: Style and Motif</em>. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1964.", "page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 117, no. 122", "url": null}, {"citation": "Hoover, Suzanne. \"Pictures at the Exhibition.\" <em>Blake Newsletter</em> 21 (1973): 6-13.", "page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 8-9; Reproduced: fig. 3", "url": null}, {"citation": "Mellor, Anne Kostelanetz. <em>Blake's Human Form Divine</em>. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974.", "page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 332-35; Reproduced: pl. 87", "url": null}, {"citation": "Butlin, Martin. <em>The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake</em>. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 351, no. 471, 484, under no. 671; Reproduced: pl. 556", "url": null}, {"citation": "Heppner, Christopher. <em>Reading Blake's Designs</em>. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 194", "url": null}, {"citation": "DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. <em>Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000.", "page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 7, 188-89, no. 77; Reproduced: p. 189", "url": null}, {"citation": "Lemonedes, Heather. <em>British Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. </em>Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013.", "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 11, 54-55, 143, no. 16; Reproduced: p. 17 (detail), 55", "url": null}], "catalogue_raisonne": "Butlin 471", "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1950.239", "images": {"annotation": null, "web": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1950.239/1950.239_web.jpg", "width": "773", "height": "893", "filesize": "141470", "filename": "1950.239_web.jpg"}, "print": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1950.239/1950.239_print.jpg", "width": "2942", "height": "3400", "filesize": "1842917", "filename": "1950.239_print.jpg"}, "full": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1950.239/1950.239_full.tif", "width": "4585", "height": "5297", "filesize": "72916440", "filename": "1950.239_full.tif"}}, "alternate_images": [{"web": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1950.239/1950.239_alt0_web.jpg", "width": "770", "height": "893", "filesize": "147061"}, "print": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1950.239/1950.239_alt0_print.jpg", "width": "2931", "height": "3400", "filesize": "1898452"}, "full": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1950.239/1950.239_alt0_full.tif", "width": "4491", "height": "5209", "filesize": "70234104"}, "date_created": "2012-06-13T15:11:56", "annotation": ""}, {"web": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1950.239/1950.239_alt1_web.jpg", "width": "765", "height": "893", "filesize": "586813"}, "print": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1950.239/1950.239_alt1_print.jpg", "width": "1536", "height": "1793", "filesize": "2324530"}, "full": {"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1950.239/1950.239_alt1_full.tif", "width": "1536", "height": "1793", "filesize": "8265196"}, "annotation": ""}], "creditline": "John L. Severance Fund", "image_credit": null, "sketchfab_id": null, "sketchfab_url": null, "gallery_donor_text": null, "athena_id": 127561, "creators": [{"id": 1257, "description": "William Blake (British, 1757\u20131827)", "extent": null, "qualifier": null, "role": "artist", "biography": null, "name_in_original_language": null, "birth_year": "1757", "death_year": "1827", "use_in_caption": true, "include_extent": false, "weight": 1}], "legal_status": "accessioned", "accession_date": "1950-06-29T00:00:00", "sortable_date": 1800, "date_added_to_oa": null, "date_text": "c. 1805", "collapse_artists": false, "on_loan": false, "recently_acquired": false, "record_type": "object", "conservation_statement": null, "has_conservation_images": false, "cover_accession_number": null, "is_nazi_era_provenance": true, "impression": null, "alternate_titles": ["Christ in the Lap of Truth"], "is_highlight": false, "updated_at": "2026-07-16 11:12:40.586000"}}